Small World

Chapter 14 - it worked

It's been three months since Judith was born and we have about fourteen weeks until Beth's baby is here. The newborn stage with Judith was hard, especially not having Lori here to help. Rick struggled for a while after her death and even now is just coming back to being his normal self. But between all of us, well us girls and Carl, we worked out a good routine with Judith. Honestly, Beth has really taken over a lot of her care, she's really wanted to get the practice in before her baby gets here.

"SOMEONE HELP! HELP!" Dean yells as he carries in Daryl's lifeless body. I quickly stand up and feel my heart drop to my stomach.

"What happened?!" Rick demands as we clear a table and lay him on it.

"We were out checking the game traps and a walker came from no where and bit him on shoulder. He fell backwards trying to push it off and hit his head on a tree and passed out." Dean sighs. "It all happened so quick."

"He's still breathing." Hershel looks at us as he checks Daryl's neck for a pulse.

"We have to do something!" I choke out between the tears, Daryl is my person. I need him. I've never told him but I need him.

"He's been bit Sami, there's nothing we can do." Hershel sighs.

"Or is there?" Glenn sighs. "Sami was bit and she survived. Is there anyway you could do a blood transfusion?" He looks at Hershel.

"Well." He does some thinking. "I believe we have all of the supplies in the infirmary but there's no guarantee that it'll work."

"But there's none that it won't." I sigh. "We have to try. Please." I cry. "I can't handle losing him."

"Okay, I'll try." Hershel stands up and Rick and Dean carry Daryl to the infirmary and I follow quickly behind. A couple minutes later and Hershel is taking about a pint of my blood. I'm so grateful for this infirmary, although I haven't been in here since Judith was born. If Daryl dies in here, I might not ever come back in here.

After he finished taking my blood he hooked up his manual hand pump infusion machine to Daryl and started pumping my blood into Daryl.

"When will we know if it worked?" Rick sighs.

"I don't know. Especially since he hit his head." Herself sighs. "I'm going to monitor him closely."

"We should probably cuff him to the bed. Just in case?" Dean looks at us and Rick nods in agreement.

"Here." Glenn hands him a pair of handcuffs. Dean hands them to T-dogg since he's closer and leans over and cuffs Daryl's arm to the bed.

"Deja vu." Rick chuckles a bit.

"Yeah for real man." T-dogg laughs.

"What do you mean?" I look at them.

"Back in Atlanta, a little after the start before we found the farm we were in the city on a run for supplies and Daryl's older brother, Merle, was with us and we had just found Rick. Long story short Merle wasn't as easy to get along with as Daryl is and so Rick handcuffed him to the roof then we quickly had to leave." Glenn explains.

"And I accidentally dropped the key down the train." T-dogg explains.

"Well good thing they aren't any drains around." I tease. "Did he die?"

"We don't know." Rick looks at me.

"We went back to get him the next day and using a tool bag T-dogg dropped, he used a saw to cut his arm off and then he stole our van. It's been over a year and we haven't seen him since." Glenn explains and I nod.

"He never told me he had a brother." I move my chair closer to his bed.

"Alright everyone, we should Daryl some space just in case he wakes up. I'll yell if anything changes, okay?" Hershel looks at everyone and they nod then leave the room.

"You should rest." He looks at me.

"I'm not leaving his side." I look at him and he nods accepting that I mean it.

I look down at Daryl and gently brush some hair out of his face, he's sleeping so peacefully. I really hope that this works because I can't lose anyone else, especially him. I gently lay my head on his chest as I look up at him.

"I need you to wake up, Daryl." I whisper as a tear rolls down my face. "Please. If you never do anything else for me, please do this." I wipe my face. "Who else am I supposed to go on runs with?" I sit up. "Who's gonna wear that stupid angel wing vest?" I tease.

"It ain't stupid." Daryl whispers so quietly I almost didn't hear him.

"Oh thank God!" I hug him tightly.

"Why am I cuffed?" He tries hugging me back but his arm is stopped.

"I can't believe it." Hershel whispers as he stands up. "Daryl, how do you feel?"

"I got a pounding headache and I'm annoyed that I'm cuffed to a bed. What's going on?" Daryl sits up a bit and I yell for Rick to come back into the room.

"Daryl, you were a bit." I look down at him.

"What?" He closes his eyes to remember. "I was out on a hunt with Dean and that sucker snuck up behind me and bit me."

"It worked!" Rick stares with amazement as he comes into the room with the key.

"What worked?" Daryl questions as Rick unlocks his handcuff.

"Sami gave you some of her blood to act as a cure to the infection and it worked. It's a miracle!" Hershel cheers.

"You did that for me?" Daryl looks up at me and I quickly nod.

"I'm so happy you're alive." I whisper as I start tearing up.

"Come here." He carefully sits up and pulls me into him and hugs me as tightly as he can.

"I couldn't lose you." I whisper. "I couldn't.

"You won't." He whispers. "I promise."

"Alright Daryl needs some rest."
Hershel walks over to us. "You're gonna have to take it really easy for at least a week, maybe even longer."

"Just give me one night doc." Daryl chuckles a bit and I help him lay back down.

"I'm glad you're alive brother." Rick daps him up.

"Me too, brother." He pats Rick's shoulder.

"I don't think I'm ever going on a hunt with you again." Dean chuckles.

"Same." Daryl smirks.

"I'm gonna be in the office, I'm not going far so if you need anything just let me know, okay?" Hershel pats his head before leaving the room.

"You goin' to bed?" He looks at me and I shake my head.

"I'm not leaving your side. I'll pull the chair closer." I turn around to grab the chair and he grabs my hand.

"Come here." He moves over and makes room for me on the bed. I lay down next to him and snuggle into his chest. He lays his head on top of mine and I close my eyes as I fall asleep in his arms.